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The Growing ROI of First-Party Data

June 29, 2015

First-party data isn’t new. But what is new is the growing realization among brands of how vitally important this data is becoming to their business. The results of a new EConsultancy survey of 300 senior-level marketers speak for themselves: First-party data garners the highest ROI of any data type.

When the marketers were asked to compare different levels of data (first-party versus second- or third-party) and their effect on desired outcomes, first-party data ranked highest across the board – even taking into account its increased implementation cost. It was most popular for gaining insight into customers, cited by 74% of respondents. But 60% also said it was the easiest to justify spending on, drove the highest increase in customer value and the highest campaign lift among data sources—all by a long shot.

Yet despite the overwhelmingly positive perception of first-party data, even the top organizations are still not taking advantage of the whole slate of channels for collecting proprietary customer data:

The greatest source of data to digital marketers may not be digital (yet). There’s still a gulf in understanding of how the digital and traditional worlds interact. Data from offline sources/point-of-sale can bridge that gap.

At many companies the richest customer dataset is hidden in plain sight. Email/SMS databases include vast amounts of rich, reliable data that goes back to the beginnings of an organization’s digital marketing efforts.

Traffic from mobile devices is growing by double digits every year. Yet, fewer than 50% of respondents were taking advantage of the data produced by mobile web/application channels. Gathering data from sources beyond the website is one way that leaders differentiate themselves; their data is more likely to reflect the real world’s diversity of devices and channels.

For many brands, the most important customer interactions happen at call centers. They are often where new accounts are initiated and where problems surface. Smart brands invest in automation, systems and training to improve their selling and service, but only about half collect the rich data being produced.

Even among large organizations, few brands currently have initiatives to use data from beacons and sensors. Roughly one-in-four high ROI companies is active in this area, but the number drops to less than 10% for the mainstream, figures that will inevitably rise sharply in many sectors. The potential for this type of first-party data is enormous because it captures aspects of customers’ lives in detail.

Across the entire sample, the vast majority of marketers (82%) plan on increasing their use of first-party data. The unmatched value of first-party data provides the best path to true customer understanding and therefore to better performance. The ROI of collecting ownable, valuable customer data is through the roof. The only question that remains is what are YOU doing to keep up with the drive towards first-party data collection – there’s a huge opportunity right now to break ahead of the pack, or get left behind.